Reba McEntire's ACM Awards Monologue Called Out the Show's Issues With Equality

On Sunday night, Reba McEntire hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards for the record-breaking sixteenth time. And when someone has that much experience, there’s room to push the envelope. When making her way through her mostly tame monologue, McEntire joked, “Do you know it snowed in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago? It was so cold it froze us women out of Entertainer of the Year." Crushed it.

Of course, McEntire’s reference is a callback to this year's cringeworthy nominations that featured five men and zero women in contention for the Academy’s biggest prize. On the day of the announcement, McEntire even commented to CBS This Morning cohosts that she was “missing my girls” in the uneven category.

While it’s unfortunately common for women to be excluded from the category, it became even more evident after Kacey Musgraves won Album of the Year at the Grammys in February. McEntire, who is known for typically staying middle-of-the-road, made a few other jokes about the genre’s reputation with women, commenting that she doesn’t need a man as a cohost. “My name is Reba McEntire, and I haven’t been tired in 53 years. I’m a woman in the music business and we don’t have time for tired.” she said. Hell yeah, sister.

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Though the majority of the night’s awards were swept by male acts, Musgraves ended up snagging Album of the Year, while performances from Ashley McBryde and Little Big Town highlighted the genre’s talented women and the stories they tell. The latter's performance, of their new single "The Daughters," was one of the standouts of the evening.

Now if we could only get that Reba and Cardi B collaboration McEntire hinted at. She's already nailed the “okurrr” pronunciation. It’s time.

Justin Kirkland Justin Kirkland is a writer for Esquire, where he focuses on entertainment, television, and pop culture.

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